Texas 40K League and Mega Battle

As the Texas 40K Winter Escalation League draws to a close, I wanted to create a page to showcase our Top 3 league winners, Best Painted, and recap our epic Mega Battle! The league has been a blast to organize and lead and I hope everyone had fun playing new people and new armies!

LEAGUE OVERALL TOP 3

 

(Left to Right) - Nikki Kolls (3rd Place), Laura Stephenson (1st Place), Scott Sullivan (2nd Place)

FIRST PLACE - Laura Stephenson - Eldar

Laura and her Eldar took an early lead in the league and were able to stay on top for the majority of the four-month league. With her all-wraith list, she destroyed the armies she faced in the league. With 11 Wins and 3 Ties, she took first place with 53 points! Laura won $30 store credit to Gunslinger Games.

 

Laura's Wraithguard

 

 Laura's Bonesinger    

 SECOND PLACE- Scott Sullivan - Dark Angels and Necrons Scott's Dark Angels/Necrons had a slower start to the league, but quickly climbed up the league standings as more games rolled in. He finished with 7 Wins, 3 Losses, and 3 Ties for a total of 43 points. Scott won $20 store credit to Gunslinger Games.

 

Scott's Interrogator Chaplain

 

Scott's Deathwing terminators

 

Scott's dreadnought

THIRD PLACE - Nikki Kolls - Space Wolves and Tyranids Nikki spent a majority of the league learning how to play, and win!, with her new Tyranid army. With the Wolves support for the harder match-ups, she was able to finish with 8 Wins, 3 Losses, and 1 Tie for a total of 41 points. Nikki won $15 store credit to Gunslinger Games.

  

Nikki's 'Nids

 

Nikki's Thunderwolf Cavalry

 

Nikki's Skyclaws and Fenrisian Wolves

BEST PAINTED

On our last day of the league, all league participants were also able to vote on the model or unit they felt was the Best Painted. It was a close vote with some beautiful models. Our winner is : Laura Stephenson! Laura won two Citadel paintbrushes and the Agrellan Earth and Blood for the Blood God! technical paints from Games Workshop. Here is her beautifully painted Avatar.

 

Laura's Avatar of Khaine    

MEGA BATTLE

For the end of our Winter League, I organized a Mega battle to wrap everything up. Each player was given 1500 points for a total of 7500 points a side + fortifications and super heavies.  

The battlefield is ready  

THEIR MISSION: They are looking at a small planet home of one of the few factories capable of making an exterminatus bomb. 

 Side A – The Imperium – have heard that such a bomb has been made and have arrived at the planet to ensure that it does not end up in the wrong hands. Unfortunately they are not the only ones to hear about the bomb! 

Side B – The Forces of Chaos – have also heard about the bomb and are coming to take this technology for themselves.  

OBJECTIVES: The factory/bomb, 3 bastions. Secondary Objectives : Slay the Warmaster, Slay the Warlords, Destroying Super Heavies   After receiving their missions, the sides discussed their strategies and handed in their bids. With a winning bid of 5 minutes, the Imperium would go first.    

PREPARING THE SIDES

Both sides ready their armies for the upcoming battle.

 

Orks and Chaos Space Marines preparing

Ork deployment method

 

Necrons and Space Wolves prepared on the side-line

 

Space Marines and Grey Knights prepared on the side-line

DEPLOYMENT

 

The Imperium rush to set up their defenses.

Defenses in place

 

And the Forces of Chaos prepare for the attack!

 

Settin' up all dem orkz

 

The Forces of Chaos

STOMPA!

 

Deployment complete

 TURN 1 – IMPERIUM The Imperium waste no time getting into enemy territory! Drop Pods and Deathwing Assault come in to break up the Chaos attack. After some ork casualties – it was Turn 1 for Chaos. 

Deathwing Assault and Drop Pod

Chaos side of the board

TURN 1 – FORCES OF CHAOS A slow start for the Forces of Chaos as a majority of their turn was spent on movement. Chaos was able to Deep Strike most of their units, but lost out on some valuable shooting/assault time. 

More Chaos forces enter the board!

 TURN 2 – IMPERIUM The Imperium continue to push their defense forward to face the Chaos threat. The Space Wolves arrive on the board ready to do some damage behind the enemy lines. With well-placed Orbital Strike, the Space Wolves were able to destroy a bastion and do some serious damage to the unit inside. Following the Strike, the Dark Angels went to work on the Chaos Shadowsword. Assaulting with their chainfists ready, they made quick work of it. The Grey Knight’s dreadknight and Ork Stompa also have a duel in the back corner of the field with the dreadknight finally admitting defeat.

 

Necrons and Grey Knights hold the line

 

Space Wolves destroying the Chaos bastion

 

Well done Wolves!

Planning their attacks

 TURN 2 – FORCES OF CHAOS The Deep Striking chaos do some serious damage in the back field this turn! The Deep Striking Guard with melta weapons went after the Baneblade and were able to take it out the same turn as the Shadowsword. After losing their bastion, the Forces of Chaos decide to attack the remaining Objective bastions. They were able to destroy the center bastion to take points away from the Imperium.

Chaos on the move

 

Pulling out the big blast templates!

 

Chaos decides to attack the Objective bastion  

 AT THE END OF TURN 2 – The Forces of Chaos were leading with a score of 5 for holding 2 bastions, destroying the Baneblade, and killing Belial. The Imperium were still holding the factory and had destroyed the Chaos Shadowsword for a total of 3 points.

End of Session 1 

TURN 3 – IMPERIUM The Imperium continue their push while dealing with the Chaos behind their line. After losing the bastion points to the Chaos the previous turn, the Imperium focus on the remaining bastions in an effort to steal points away from Chaos. They succeeded with blowing up the left side bastion and catching Ork warlord Ghazghkull Traka with it! There was also a battle of the super heavies, as the Tesseract Vault used its Seismic Assault against the Ork Stompa and finally defeating it with an impressive 7 penetrating hits. The Space Wolves threw a Vortex Grenade onto the battlefield, sucking up the Ork Kill Kans and removing them from play. Njal Stormcaller is killed as the Guard Leman Russ attacks his unit. The Traitor Guard's Valkyrie is also shot down and crashes, killing 9 of its passengers. 

  

 Stompa taking damage

 

Vortex Grenade enters the field and takes out the Killa Kans

The Imperium takes out a bastion  

TURN 3 – CHAOS With the loss of the Stompa, the Forces of Chaos turn their attention to the Tesseract Vault. After taking shots from multiple units, the Vault is still standing with 1 Hull Point left.

 

Vault still standing!

 TURN 4 – IMPERIUM Not much of note for Turn 4 as the Imperium attempts to clear Chaos from their side and finish their turn early.

Imperium do what they can during their last turn of the game

 TURN 4 – CHAOS An exciting Turn 4 for Chaos as the Tesseract Vault is almost shot down, but saved by a Cover Save. Originally removed as a casualty, it is back in play as a rule is double-checked in true Necron fashion. The Forces of Chaos then use their Replacements Strategic Asset, placing a unit of Chaos Space Marines on the doorstep of the factory! 

 

Chaos on the doorstep of the factory   

LAST DITCH EFFORT!
At the end of Turn 4, with Chaos on the factory’s doorstep, the Imperium were given the choice to detonate the exteriminatus bomb in a last ditch effort to keep the bomb out of the hands of Chaos. The Imperium took their chance and after rolling it up, were granted one last Orbital Strike. Unfortunately with their scatter, they were not able to take out the remaining objective bastion.

 

Bomb detonated as a last ditch effort - but scatters away.

VICTORY!

So at the end of Turn 4 the Forces of Chaos emerged victorious! By keeping the last bastion and killing Njal Stormcaller, they added 4 points for a total of 9. The Imperium added 3 by killing Ghazghkull Thraka and the Ork Stompa for a total of 6. 

Final Score - Imperium 6 - Forces of Chaos 9

The Forces of Chaos! (Left to Right) Mark S., Doug S., Chad J., Bruce S.

The Imperium (Left to Right) Trevor S., Scott S., Brian S., Austin B.

FINAL PRIZES

I had a few prizes to announce at the game : Austin won the League Sportsman ship award and a $15 store credit to Gunslinger Games. Doug and his Chaos Space Marines won the Chaos MVP award and a new set of dice by contesting the factory and forcing the Imperium’s hand in detonating the bomb. Trevor and the Space Wolves won Imperial MVP and a new set of dice for the Wolves’ well-placed orbital strikes and destruction in the back field.   The battle was a lot of fun and I had a BLAST organizing/leading it. A HUGE thank you to everyone who participated in the league and Mega Battle! I am definitely looking forward to hosting more Texas40K events in the spring! If you would like to check out my full Imgur album from the Mega Battle : http://imgur.com/a/Djv9m


Preparing the battle the night before. Thanks everyone for coming out!!

The Bugs are Coming!

With the upcoming Tyranid release I wanted to do a quick rumor round-up for everything bug related! There have been a lot of rumors to surface around the bugs and I have included what I feel are the biggest ones making the rounds online right now.

As of now it seems like the Tyranid will be coming out in January with pre-orders in December.

The latest rumor is a picture from the new Escalation book. It shows Tyranid hormagaunts (back) and warriors (front). 

The Hive Mind is very excited as this seems to show a new model for the Warriors with slight differences in the heads, arms, and scales from the current model.  This has been the only new photo released since the Tyranid Hive Guard box was leaked which leads us to the next rumor!

This photo was released November 8^th and shows a new Hive Guard box with 3 models. Currently the Hive Guard is a single blisterpack and a resin model while the new box is plastic (yay!).  I have seen rumors that the Hive Guard will have a secondary weapon option to go along with the Impaler Cannon they currently have. From other sites I have heard that this secondary option may include a Skyfire special rule, a rule that the Tyranids do not currently have in their force. With a new model box including 3 of these little guys, I’m excited to pick them up!

Along with the new Hive Guard and Warrior models, the ‘Nids are supposed to be getting models for everything that did not previously have a model with the launch. This includes a harpy, Doom of Malan’tai, Parasite of Mordrax, Mycetic Spore, and even rumors of a new large monstrous creature in plastic. Zoanthropes are also rumored to have a new plastic kit that makes 3 models and includes flying bases. The models are more dynamic with options for tails, arms, and even multi-part heads.  Ripper swarms are also rumored to be getting a small box like nurglings that include wings to be run as Sky slashers (currently no model).

It also seems like the ‘Nids will be getting some changes to their psychic powers and some units may be able to run twice or run-assault (named “Ravenous Advance”). Given the range on some units, this will be great for running up the board to assault which can be difficult with current rules.  There’s also rumor of a rule named “The Ground Trembles” which would give all MCs d3 Hammer of Wrath hits (similar to the White Scars’ Kor’Sarro Khan’s Moondrakkan special rule). For psychic powers, the bugs may have two new power lists – one for destructive powers and one for augmentive powers to buff the hive fleet.  

As I mentioned, there are dozens of other smaller rumors for the ‘Nids that are unit-specific and exciting for all of us Bug players! For those more familiar with the bugs, here are some unit rumors I’m excited about :

• Ymgarl Genestealers – “Special arrival rule shared with the Lictor and may now purchase standard Genestealer biomorph upgrades”

o   This means that on top of the Rending rule, the Ymgarls could also take Scything Talons (rerolls of any To Hit rolls of 1 in close combat), and an Implant Attack (any To Wound roll of 6 in close combat will inflict instant death regardless of Toughness). The Ymgarls are already nasty in close combat – will be fun if this one is true!

• Trygon Prime – “Can be taken as HQ/Heavy Support, Trygon tunnels can be used by all infantry/beasts but Raveners can be held until a tunnel is available.”

o   I’ve had a lot of fun with my Trygon Prime and will be happy that I will be able to take him as an HQ with my new lists. It will be interesting to see if taking them as an HQ will unlock other units such as the Raveners as troops.

• Rumor of Mycetic Hive Node in addition the Mycetic Spore – "Hive nodes are bought by HQ models, no transport capacity. Nodes provide Synapse and can be configured in one of many ways. “

o   Extending Synapse range past the MCs that currently provide it would allow me to spread out my army without fear of failing my Instinctive Behavior tests and provide a lot more flexibility in moving everyone around the board.

These rumors are from various sites and should be taken with a grain of salt! For myself, I’m happy knowing that the rest of the bugs will finally have a model and hopefully be viable with this new codex so that I can try lots of new options!

-Nikki Kolls

Deathwatch

While I have been playing 40K for a little over a year now, I only recently got to experience another side of the 40K universe – Deathwatch. While I am not normally into RPGs, my friends really seemed to have fun with it and always had fun stories of all of their heroic, and not so heroic moments. I decided not to join at first thinking I wouldn’t be able to get into it, but slowly found myself being drawn into it as they fought on other worlds against various enemies. Mix in the stories of guns jamming at the worst possible moment and of heroes carrying their fallen comrades and I knew I had to give it a shot.

So I decided to buy the core rule book and some dice and create a character. I rolled a Space Wolf of course – Bran Thunderbrew the Rune Priest. I rolled my back-story, stats, and filled in my character sheet the best I could without really knowing the core mechanics. Back-story complete, I built and painted my model in the Deathwatch black and magnetized all of his weapons. I read more of my core rule book and talked to a few friends about it. I was ready to go! Or so I thought.

My first mission had finally come. I had my character and brought my ‘Nids for the group to battle against. I was feeling pretty confident as my friend set up the battlefield.  We rolled for Initiative and took our turns. And then that confidence was gone as they asked “What would you like to do?”

I realized I had no clue.  I had no idea and 10 of my friends are staring at me to come to a decision. At that moment I didn’t remember anything I had read and had no idea what the options were. I was told 3 different pages to turn to for reference. Between moving, actions, shooting, psychic powers, and skill checks it was so very different than anything I was used to. Add in all the math involved with these different actions and my brain was mush. I was a little overwhelmed and in all honesty, getting pretty frustrated.

Thankfully my friends were able to nudge me in the right direction and we were on course for our mission. After destroying some gargoyles and termagants, we were able to explore a wrecked aircraft and find the pilot. Brother Algrim Fangson carried the pilot back to his aircraft and supplied him with his grenades, and we were off to fight the horde of Hive Fleet Omnomnom. 

As we begin to pick off the horde I started to remember more of my spells and weapon damage. This was just in time as we had to bust into a building surrounded by genestealers. After nearly killing another battle brother, I was able to actually kill one of them and help in the final parts of the mission as we raced back past the wrecked aircraft. The mission ended with a bang as the aircraft exploded, taking the Hive Fleet with it.

While it started off a little frustrating, I really did have fun with my first mission. I realized that I have a lot more research to do and cheat sheets to make for myself, but once I’m more comfortable with the rules for my character, I think I’ll really enjoy it.  I feel that while the mission-based RPG limits a lot of character development, it does help someone like me who does not have the RPG background.  It gives me a goal to reach with my team, but also allows for me to build a unique character and have his decisions influence the end result.

In the end, I recommend Deathwatch for those who enjoy the 40K fluff even if you don’t think you would enjoy an RPG. While it does take a long time to set up and learn the rules, it makes for some great stories with your friends and offers a new way to enjoy the hobby. I’m glad I decided to give a shot and hope to have more stories of my own in the near future!

-        -  Nikki Kolls